Man Sentenced To Life In Prison For Fondling Granddaughter

Melvin Allen, 57, convicted of fondling his 6-year-old granddaughter is sentenced to life in prison.(credit: Tim Curry Criminal Justice Center)

FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) – A repeat sex offender will spend the rest of his life in prison for abusing his own granddaughter. Prosecutors say Melvin Allen, 57, fondled the 6-year-old girl at her Arlington home during a weekend visit in September 2010.

“Melvin Allen is a habitual predator who has continuously manipulated his family,” said Tarrant County Assistant District Attorney Melinda Westmoreland. “Unaware of his past, his daughter let him back into her life and he violated her trust in the worst of ways by molesting his granddaughter. This life sentence gives justice to all of his victims and he is finally where he belongs.”

Allen was already a registered sex offender in Louisiana, with two prior convictions, when he told his granddaughter to come into another room, where he fondled her breasts over her clothes. His prior convictions, indecent behavior with a juvenile in 1990 and in 1993, also involved young relatives. His Texas family was unaware of those convictions.

According to Texas law, if a defendant is previously convicted of a sexual offense against a child, he receives an automatic life sentence if convicted again of a sex offense.